An Introduction to Highly Persuasive

Corporate Communication

Because one highly persuasive text can sell more than a hundred skilled salesmen!

Paul J.Q. Vessies, M.Sc.

An Introduction to Highly Persuasive Corporate Communication

Paul J.Q. Vessies, M.Sc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or stored in a database or retrieval
system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Persuasure Publishing

Mezquitalaan 49
1064 NS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
info@persuasure.com
www.persuasure.com

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 The Royal Bank of Scotland

"Nowadays the financial institutions should regain their customers' trust and Persuasure is offering the solution to this matter
identifying key elements to reach this goal!" (C. Scutaru, Global Transaction Services)

DHL

“By the assistance of Persuasure, you will see enormous change in the perception of your products through brilliant written
communication techniques. I believe, this change will be more than you could ever imagine!” (E. Bezikoglu, Global Partnership
Coordinator)

Damansion Strategic Marketing Services

“While working with Paul, I have had the great pleasure of meeting a highly skilled and talented person. It's inspirational to see
how he uses words and creates fascinating (sales) stories. Paul - I am looking forward to working with you more and many
thanks for sharing your insights!” (I. Schurink, Founder)

INAS S.A.

“The 'Highly Persuasive Communication' white paper is an impressive work, which challenges you to understand and develop
such persuasion skills. Understanding those techniques each individual may get the best results while spending less time,
money and effort!” (I. Tircomnicu, Sales & Marketing)

Hamburg & Partners Communications

“Paul does what he says: one highly persuasive text can sell more than a hundred skilled salesmen. His paper "An Introduction
to Highly Persuasive Corporate Communication" is an incredibly clever way how to educate entrepreneurs, but also how to sell
your/his own product. By putting together marketing, advertising, psychology and cognition, Paul has done a lot of work and you
can feel the energy on every page you read. Well done!” (A.L. Supp, Public Relations)

Canvas Company

"Measuring and quantifying communication has been a challenge for a long time! Persuasure has found a very structured and
pragmatic way to approach this matter that definitely adds value in this "LOUD" world! It has definitely helped us to improve our
communication strategy!" (A. Jovanovski, Strategy and External Relations)

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Bactimm - Farmalyse

"Persuasure has put together a high quality piece of work on Persuasive Communication. While there has been enough
research published & results practiced on Visual & Audible persuasive tactics, research on literary persuasiveness is relativ
relatively
limited
imited if not unique. I personally do believe that this could be a very effective tool to optimize & complement Products and
Services marketing!" (B. Babychan, Regional Manager New Markets)

SCA Group

"Nowadays, people value time more and more in a fast developing world. Every company would like to get the best result with
spending less time and resources. With these aspects it is becoming harder to catch an attention of the customer and make him
trust you after reading your proposal or web site. Persuasure has developed a perfect and highly effective solution to reach this
goal!" (M. Karimova, Sales & Logistics)

Chloe Technologies

"Persuasure has an excellent knowledge and a unique strategic way to divert things to their way. I am really impressed with
their approach!" (G. Sreenidhi, Managing Director).

Piraeus Bank

"Throughout my whole career I had been thinking that sales depend mostly on image and catchy slogans, but Persuasure really
showed us that trust can be built only through using the right words. Thanks to their great elements and methods we managed
even to broaden our sales, there where others counted loss" (K. Papaoikonomou, Credit Card Marketing Supervisor).

© 2010 Persuasure.
Persuasure All rights reserved.
What several years of scientific research revealed about how to achieve
groundbreaking results in corporate communication strategies

Throughout history, the art of persuasion has always been a closely guarded secret to most people.
The great philosopher Plato once said that persuasion is the sign of a free society, because almost
everyone wants to be able to get other people to do what he or she wants. It is how human beings get
what they want in life, and it is therefore that persuasion is the most rewarded skill in a free society.

After years of research, Persuasure has identified the key elements of persuasion and has developed
a scientific method to evaluate whether a corporate communication strategy is persuasive (known as
“The Persuasure-21®”). These elements derive from meticulous tests, with surprising, sometimes
even shocking, results. The acquired insights have proven their worth again and again and never fail
to gain response and increase sales for a wide range of products through every direct marketing
medium.

In this white paper, we will reveal the most important secrets of the art of persuasion, and teach you
how to use them in corporate communication strategies. We will teach you:

to persuade people in your line of business to desire your product or service above that of
competitors.
to identify instantly the weakness of an advertisement, website text, career vacancy, or sales
letter and thereby make it stronger.
to achieve groundbreaking results that will surprise both you, the people you work with and
for.
to understand why 99% of all the commercial communication will not lead to a maximum
turnover.
to make it easier to identify and launch products and services that people want to buy.

If anything, we want to show you the ‘big picture’ of how to understand the power of highly persuasive
corporate communication, giving you a great ‘battlefield advantage’ over those who lack these
insights. You will discover how to make your prospective clients welcome your advertisements and
sales letters obvious and get increased revenues, without hype, falsehood, or superficial gimmicks.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

Finally, our goal is to turn you and other people in your company in the fastest way possible into
marketing gurus, who know how to use the art of persuasion, how to pull the strings of the
marketplace, and have the marketplace welcome you as its ‘saviour’. Someone who stands for
excellence in your product and service.

Once you have mastered these skills, you can outscore any competitor. You don’t need a silver
tongue or a golden touch, but just the secrets that I am about to share with you.

Happy reading and may this white paper have a great impact on your sales and responses!

Yours sincerely,

Paul J.Q. Vessies, M.Sc.

Research Director
paul.vessies@persuasure.com

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

The basic principle of corporate communication

We’re going start with providing the basic principle of (commercial) corporate communication, and
after that we will aim to advanced element of highly persuasive corporate communication, the subject
of this white paper.

The history of modern corporate communication goes back to the month May of the year 1904, where
a famous meeting took place between Albert Lasker and John E. Kennedy, two of the three founders
of the science of modern corporate communication. Albert Lasker was the owner of an advertising
agency in Chicago, and was a great persuader in personal sales presentations. He however had no
idea how of how to implement his talent into written communication. This tortured him, since he
recognized that the right written corporate texts could have an enormous positive impact on sales
numbers but he had no idea which factors were responsible for success (and – which was much more
common – which factors were responsible for failure) and how they should be applied to make
success predictable and reliable.

This moved him to start a search for the answers to his questions. He traveled several months, talked
with many prominent individuals in the field of advertising, but nobody could give him the answers to
which he was seeking. It seemed that his search was in vain, until he met John E.Kennedy, a
Canadian officer. He told him he had heard of his quest, and knew the answer to his questions.

He first asked Albert Lasker what he thought what "corporate communication" exactly was. He replied
that it was "bringing news about a product or service". Kennedy said: "No, news is just a way of
presenting, and corporate communication is very different, namely: "salesmanship in print". This
definition got a few years later changed by Claude Hopkins, the first person who published a book on
this science, to “multiplied salesmanship", and until this day the main principle for the best written
corporate texts. A well-written, persuasive corporate text does the same job as a large group of
individual sellers, who need to present themselves to their potential clients every time when they walk
from door to door or make call after call.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

The wrong approach of corporate communication

When you browse the Internet you can discover that there are now thousands of organizations and
individuals in our country and in the rest of the world offering services in the field of corporate
communication. Unfortunately a large number of them have a different (and – according to frequent
research – less successful) approach. This is because neither they nor their clients measure or
examine the results of their communication efforts. There are often large sums spent on the
broadcasting of commercials on television and publishing advertisements in magazines or on the
Internet, but confusing their mission with their medium.

Because they do not embrace the definition of "multiplied salesmanship", they try to imitate the
entertainment they see in a certain medium. When a particular commercial or advertising is praised for
its creativity, the direct impact on sales results is almost never considered. However, those who do are
aware of the historical definition, knowing that the aim of a corporate message is to achieve results
and not to receive applause or win awards.

The changed climate within the world of corporate communication

There have been a few radical changes over the past 100 years in the field of corporate
communications. The number of commercial messages that are spread today – in particular via the
Internet – could not be counted, and tightened legislation against telemarketing and unsolicited
mailings makes it for most organizations increasingly difficult to reach and persuade their target
audience. In addition, more and more people are less susceptible to traditional methods and widely
used texts and are in this ‘era of information’ (unconsciously) forced to ignore or remove commercial
messages to get through their day.

It is for many organizations therefore necessary to approach potential clients in another way. Although
the 'look' of a commercial message is nowadays pretty important, we will in this paper only focus on
the 'content' of a business message, because this is probably easier for you to direct apply.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

The secret of highly persuasive communication

Studies revealed that a highly persuasive text should be related to a context, e.g. a ‘story’ created
around a product in order to get the communicated message across. The main purpose of a context is
to create a willingness to be convinced thus making your target less sceptical and more susceptible to
wanting to know more about the product offered. Simultaneously a text should have good content. By
that we mean information about the product explained in a rational and practical way, free from
subjective claims. The main aim is to build up a certain level of trust. Only after these steps should you
advance to the proposition, which holds an overview of your products. In the following overview of
the 21 elements of persuasion you will learn more about this.

Context Content Proposition

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

Which are the most common mistakes companies do?

Commercial texts often fail to bring their message across because:

1) Information about the services, products and solutions is provided without explaining their context
and content. This is an aggressive approach to marketing, and can create a lot of distrust with
prospective clients, because the client feels he or she won’t be understood. You can compare it with
the ‘Scholar’s mate’ in chess, this is only effective when you’re playing against an absolute beginner.

Proposition

2) The text starts by pointing out solely the content of the offered products, without describing the
context. This form is less aggressive, but usually very cliché. Without a context there is no
psychological value added and the product or service won’t be considered to be special or different
than others.

Content Proposition

3) The text does not mention the content, but only creates a particular context. This way of writing
creates too less trust, and there will be no criteria that people normally need to make a decision to buy
the product or service. People can easily get regrets from the sale.

Context Proposition

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

The 21 most important elements of persuasion

After years of research and studies of behaviour about text and persuasion, Persuasure was able to
identify the most important elements that actually persuade a person to response positively to a
commercial message. These elements form The Persuasure-21®, a model normally used to write
highly persuasive texts for websites and sales letters. In the following table you will learn what these
elements are, accompanied with a brief description

Element 1
Trust

Trust has the power to let people accept the message you are communicating to them. On the other
side, no rational argument or logic has the power to do the same when trust is absent. Trust can be
split up into 5 fundaments: Proof of personality (whether you are considered to be honest), Proof of
competence (whether you have the right skills and qualifications), Proof of self confidence (whether
you are not doubting about work), Proof of trustworthiness (whether you are fully licenced, well
educated, and cutting edge), and Proof of congruence (whether you are consistent). See also:
O’Brien, R.C. (2001). Trust: Releasing the Energy to Succeed. West-Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Element 2
Candour

Never underestimate your client's intelligence, or pretend to be more knowledgable than you are: it
can cost you a lot of credibility. No one can predict the future so keep claims therefore credible.
Don’t be afraid to show candour, since most of your prospective clients will like it and respect your
honesty.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Element 3
Problem / Irritation

People can accept your message more readily when one of their specific goals or desires is presented. It
is crucial to gauge such goals and desires to motivate them to buy your product or listen to your
message. Goals and desires with higher emotional value are most successful in sensitizing people to
your sales pitch.This element can successfully eliminate the well-known ‘no interest’-excuse.

Element 4
The ‘Credo Technique’

‘‘Credo’ is the Latin translation for “I believe”, and this technique is the most effective way to present your
most important core values and (business) principles to your market. Never be afraid to highlight what
you believe in and stand for.

Element 5
Criteria

Criteria are the standards and evidence we apply in order to make decisions and judgments, and can be
seen as the more complex, equivalent meaning or value of a product or service. Think about ‘stability’,
‘success’, ‘harmony’ or ‘respect’. See also: Dilts, R.B. (1999). Sleight of Mouth: The Magic of
Conversational Belief Change. Capitola: Meta Publications)

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Element 6
Identification

A message is more likely to hit home with people who are able to identify themselves with the
communicated message than when a large group is targeted in which every individual is considered to
be equal. The more specific the identification is, the more powerful a message will be.

Element 7
Reason why – the ‘because’ effect

Provide your target audience with a reason to buy your product. Adding a ‘reason why’ to your message
can seize the advantages of your product immediately, can let people believe what you say is true, and
clarifies why your product is superior to the alternatives your prospective clients can choose. This can be
very powerful, as it is a powerful antidote to skepticism, touching the emotions of your clients, resulting in
much higher levels of sales and response. See also: Goldstein, N.J., Martin S.J., Cialdini, R.B. (2008).
Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Element 8
Cases / Stories

Describing one or more success-stories can increase the level of trust a prospective client has in you.
Stories offer not only facts, but also an ‘emotional understanding’ of a subject. This is a much more
personal way of understanding your client´s needs and it will not be missed only if you have the correct
persuasion strategy. People are not inspired to act solely by pure logic, so even if the person you are
talking to agrees with you, it does not mean that he or she will do business. Stories are the way our
brains remember things. We usually forget details, but remember the context. In other words: the
interpretation that someone has about your service or product is a story that this person is telling to
himself. The decision to use or not your service or product is literally a story that he or she
(subconsciously) creates about the future.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Element 9
Rational and objective proof

It is very important to save subjective claims about your product (“better”, “more tasteful”, “more
effective”) without providing additional proof that may be considered as objective and rational. Studies
show evidence that people usually buy on proof. Anyone can claim to be better or more effective. Your
prospective clients know this and therefore don’t want to waste time with these (mostly unsupported)
claims. Instead, rational, strong, unquestionable proof is a critical element your advertisement must
have. This element also eliminates the “disbelief” excuse.

Element 10
Non-cliche Unique Selling Point (USP)

It is much more difficult to define a strong unique selling point than people normally assume. This is the
element where you come up with a promise to your prospective clients to solve their problems or
frustration, and can eliminate the “no perceived difference with competitors” exit.

Element 11
Social proof

This principle states that people's beliefs and actions are shaped by what other people believe and act
upon. It has been shown that this element is the most powerful under uncertainty (when people are in an
unsure, ambiguous situation, they are more likely to attend to the actions of others or accept those
actions as the right ones) and similarity (people are more likely to follow the lead of similar others). See
also: Cialdini, R.B. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Boston: Pearson / Allyn & Bacon.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Element 12
No important question marks

Are there any important questions left unanswered? Clients have normally neither the objective nor time
to find out for themselves by contacting you if they think it is not important enough to do so.

Element 13
Expertise / Authority

The famous Milgram studies of obedience showed evidence of strong requests for authority in our
society. It is frequently adaptive to obey the dictates of genuine authorities because such individuals or
companies usually possess high levels of knowledge, wisdom, and power. Examples can be titles,
clothing, and even automobiles. See also: Cialdini, R.B. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Boston:
Pearson / Allyn & Bacon.

Element 14
Limitation of risks and frustration

One of the best-kept secrets about the ability to gain someone’s trust is diminishing the perceived risk
that comes with buying a product. There are several ways of limiting the (perceived) risks to your
prospective clients. These include a demonstration (e.g. the “before-after” comparison), the non-cliché
guarantee (e.g. the 110% money-back guarantee, the multiple benefit guarantee, the “try us free”
guarantee), specifications of the product (e.g. specific prices instead of only a ‘starting-from’ price, or a
price excluding additional taxes), explanation of how your service or technique really works, and
testimonials (which should be rough-edged and real).

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Element 15
Scarcity / Exclusivity

People attach high value to scarce opportunities. Things that are difficult to get are typically of higher
value, and according to the psychological reactance theory, items or experiences less accessible are
increasingly in demand. Studies have also shown that limiting access to a message causes people to
desire it more and become more favorable to it. When a particular message is received, it is more
effective if it is perceived as a consisting of exclusive information or content. See also: Cialdini, R.B.
(2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Boston: Pearson / Allyn & Bacon.

Element 16
Contrasting

Making an objective comparison with competitors without denigrating them. This is an excellent way to
show and prove why your product or service stands above that of your competitors.

Element 17
Text richness

Is the story as a whole containing active verbs and is it sensory rich? Using the right words can change
the perspective of the way your prospective clients are thinking and looking at things. Words are
combined in ways to express concepts, notions and ideas in qualitative ways. Therefore using the right
words can lead to mental empowerment. Just like the use of the wrong words may evoke an unpleasant
sensation, the use of the right words may strike a chord.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Element 18
Avoidance of beliefs

Is it clear what the beliefs are that must be avoided? Especially when you’re offering a new product or
service, you must be aware of negative beliefs towards them (forthcoming from negative experiences
with comparable products or services). This element has a strong cultural dependence.

Element 19
The overall context

Pointing the real reason for starting up the business or the product-line can make the people who
receive the message more committed because they will have a better understanding of the existence of
your company or product.

Element 20
Avoidance of cognitive blind spots in the text

A ‘cognitive blind spot’ is forthcoming from social psychology and describes the phenomenon of when a
recipient of a message can’t understand the principles of the subject, while the sender takes them for
granted. Especially in the technological industry this is a well-known phenomenon. Examples are
specific terminologies and acronyms.

Element 21
User-friendly proposition

Do you come up with a user-friendly proposition? The very common exit of “want to think about it a little
longer” arises because your prospects don’t want to decide immediately, aren’t sure about product
affordability, afraid about making mistakes or have doubts about your guarantee. This element can
eliminate this very common problem.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

Industry-specific supplements

For a complete picture of this 'persuasion' model, we offer the possibility to receive an industry-specific
supplement to this paper, which focuses on the application of this model in practice. Due to the great
diversity among the different industries this cannot be described in this white paper. In such an
addition we will provide:

Results of our research regarding the quality of communication methods within your industry,
Examples of corporate texts that are used within your industry (mostly from prominent
organizations), accompanied with comments on their level of persuasion
Draft versions of how these texts could be rewritten to achieve a higher level of persuasion.

These supplements are available for the following industries, and can be requested via your contact
person or via info@persuasure.com:

Corporate Services Finance High Tech

Management Consulting Banking IT Services

Marketing & Advertising Insurance Computer Software
Market Research Financial Services Computer Hardware
Public Relations Real Estate Computer Networking
Professional Training Investment Banking Internet
Staffing & Recruiting Investment Management Semiconductors
Translation & Localization Accounting Telecommunications
Events Services Venture Capital Biotechnology
Logistics & Supply Chain Capital Markets Pharmaceuticals
Outsourcing & Offshoring Airlines & Aviation
Commercial Real Estate Nanotechnology
Import & Export Computer & Network Security
Human Resources Wireless
Supplies & Equipment

Legal Education Non-Profit

Law Practice Primary & Secondary Non-Profit Organizations

Legal Services Higher Education Philantrophy
Education Management Fundraising
E-Learning Individual & Family Services
Research Think Tanks
Civic & Social Organizations

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

 Manufacturing Media Consumer Goods

Food Production Online Publishing Cosmetics

Consumer Electronics Marketing & Advertising Apparel & Fashion
Consumer Goods Broadcast Media Sporting Goods
Furniture Media Production Supermarkets
Retail Entertainment Consumer Electronics
Aviation & Aerospace Motion Pictures & Film Consumer Goods
Automotive Museums & Institutions Furniture
Chemicals Fine Art Retail
Machinery Performing Arts Wholesale
Mining & Metals Newspapers Wine & Spirits
Oil & Energy Publishing Luxury Goods & Jewelry
Shipbuilding Printing
Utilities Information Services
Textiles Libraries
Paper & Forest Products Design
Electrical Manufacturing Writing & Editing
Plastics Computer Games
Industrial Engineering Arts & Crafts
Supplies & Equipment Animation
Renewables & Environment Photography
Glass & Ceramics Graphic Design
Packaging & Containers
Industrial Automation

Medical & Health Care Government Recreation & Travel

Hospital & Health Care Public Policy Leisure & Travel

Health, Wellness & Fitness Political Organizations Hospitality
Mental Health Care Government Administration Restaurants
Medical Practice Government Relations Sports
Medical Devices International Trade Food & Beverages
Biotechnology Public Safety Recreational Facilities
Pharmaceuticals International Affairs Sporting Goods
Veterinary Think Tanks Gambling & Casinos
Alternative Medicine Music
Wine & Spirits

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

Our mission and vision

We believe the purpose of corporate communication is to sell or to get good responses, not to win
applause or awards.

We also believe that one measurement is more worth than a hundred opinions. We therefore only rely
on proven strategies we have discovered during our ongoing research and scientific tests.

Furthermore, we believe in communicating with integrity. The strongest messages are free from
falsehoods and unsupported claims, and we therefore expect from our people to maintain high ethical
standards in every campaign they are working on.

Mission
As Somerset Maugham once said: “It’s a funny thing about life; when you refuse to accept nothing but
the best, you very often get it!”. This statement underlines our mission to strive to be the best in
corporate communication strategies.

We are committed to:

Creating groundbreaking results to the number of responses and sales of our clients
Building communication capabilities and mobilizing organizations
Driving sustainable impact
Providing opportunities to become a master of persuasion
Succeeding together with passion and trust

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

Vision
Part of achieving the best is envisioning what you would like to accomplish before you go into the
battle – whether it is in a commercial campaign or life in general. In other words, a groundbreaking
campaign does not start with writing headlines nor does it start with proper market research, but starts
with the intention to make it so and a clear image of success as it will look and feel to you, as if it is
already achieved.

This ancient wisdom springs forth from “The Art of War”, a book written by the great Chinese general
Sun Tzu. Even after 2400+ years, this book is used in every major military school. Another one of its
wisdoms: “The battle is won even before it is engaged”. In the same way, a campaign becomes a
success before the fingers of its creator touch the keyboard if the creator has the intention to make it
so and picture and emotionally feels the success he or she wants to experience in his or her own
mind. In similar way, our cooperation with you can become a great experience even before it unfolds,
if you also intend to make it so. No matter whether you’re a client, or professional in our organization.

We don’t want this to be your average experience which gives you a temporary buzz, which fades
away as soon as it’s started, and has you right back where you started again. We want you to
understand the principles of persuasive communication as powerful and reliable as the laws of gravity
or electricity. If you apply them correctly, they will work.

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.

Contact

We hope that we could teach you a few essential aspects of the art of persuasion by the content of
this white paper, and feel free to contact us for more information. If you’re interested, we will provide
you without any obligation a few suggestions how to increase the level of persuasion of any of your
corporate communication media!

Persuasure The Netherlands Persuasure Romania

Mezquitalaan 49 General Manager: Mihai Dragoiu
1064 NS Amsterdam Str. Egalitatii, Nr. 8
The Netherlands 550228 Sibiu
T. +31 (0)6 39 217 162 T: +40 726 680 571

E. info@persuasure.nl E. contact@persuasure.com

Persuasure India Persuasure Germany

1162, Sector 42-B Dr. Hans Kapfinger Strasse 13
160055 Chandigarh 94032 Passau
India Germany
T. +91 981 567 4147 T. +49 176 89 05 00 27
E. india@persuasure.com E. germany@persuasure.com

© 2010 Persuasure. All rights reserved.